Issaquah School District staff will hold strike vote Tuesday night

At 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of staff members at Issaquah School District will consider whether to leave their posts and head to the picket lines.

RELATED: The truth about teacher pay in Washington

KIRO 7’s Ranji Sinha spoke to the parties involved and breaks down the disagreement.

“We’re surprised to be honest, parties have disagreements we have language in our contract to have those disagreements resolved,” said L. Michelle, ISD spokesperson.

L. Michelle says staff and para-educators at the ISD have a contract, and filed grievances in the fall.
She also says the next step in the grievance process is arbitration and not a strike.

The district is looking at a possible strike since hundreds of staff at the schools want a salary raise based on what’s known as a Cost of Living adjustment — they say the district isn’t giving them that increase.

We saw countless districts deal with labor strife before and during this school year when teachers and staff demanded salary increases.

The landmark McCleary court decision forced the state to give school districts large sums of money to fully fund education.

Some districts passed the money on to employees — but the staff at Issaquah schools now considering a strike did not get a cost of living increase.

The district says it’s honored the contract and no staff received the cost of living increase this school year.

RELATED: Seattle Superintendent wants to close gap in racial equity

“I think it comes down to an interpretation of the contract….I do believe both parties will come to an agreement so that we can back to the work of supporting the students and families in the Issaquah SD,” L. Michelle said.

“What we say is really clear is that the lifetime of both contracts stipulates a cost of living increase,” said Emily Freet, ISD office staff member.

Emily Freet is a staff member and represents employees considering the strike. She says the employees and the district are at an impasse so a strike will make it clear to the district and the public where they stand.

“The schools would come to a halt, and that’s the intent of a strike….our students and our staff deserve better we’re talking about the group of employees that makes the least amount of money in our district,” Freet said.

A union rep told me If the employees vote to strike it won’t happen immediately, the unions would form a strike committee and decide when to potentially hit the picket line.

Written by Ranji Sinha